Re: If our offense was playing the way it was towards the end

> of the season, that game wouldn't of been that close.
> A great game though and glad i was there, definitely
> one of the loudest games I've been to in death valley

Kinda disagree with this. Louisville's D was getting to Deshaun Watson and clearly had him rattled - which is something I did not see from any D before or since. Louisville's D was no joke.

Their D was really, really good...as good or even better than ours, players 1-11. Biggest difference was their bench...players 12-22 were not nearly as good for Louisville's D, whereas Clemson just rotated in another 11 who were as good, or almost as good, as the starters.

The problem is, they're losing rather more defensive players to the NFL draft than they concede - at least 6 - to the NFL draft, and they are losing their offensive line...and sorry, when you see that many guys drafted off an OL, and in the first 3-4 rounds of the draft, the OL is not going to be better. Losing Parker is also going to hurt them big-time.

Louisville lost a BUNCH this year. I do believe they will be better at the QB position...again, agree with the assessment on how well Petrino historically does in Year 2. They still lost an absolute boatload of talent, probably the most in college football according to the NFL draft, and they have not recruited well enough to just replace that in one year. I suspect the drop-off on their D is going to be substantial, particularly in their secondary (yes, I know they're counting on all those miscreant Georgia transfers to plug the holes, but Georgia kicked those guys off for a reason), and they are going to have OL issues. I also question if they've got anything resembling a pass rush with Mauldin gone. They were not remotely the same team after he messed up his hamstring in the final third of the season.

Senore2006

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Re: Petrino's players will not be as GOOD as Strong's.^^^^^^

May 2, 2015, 12:10 PM

Louisville could easily have 11 players from last year's team drafted. So far, in the third round, we've seen 4 go, including Mauldin to the Jets. The loss to you guys last year didn't break any hearts, save to say we had a shot at the end. That and the Virginia loss were two of the best games of the year, ironically. For our baptismal season in the ACC, I would say we ran the gauntlet and came out fairly well.

To imagine we would have stayed with you like that while running three rookie QB's all season was a sincerely optimistic hope. Imagine had #14 pick Devante Parker been playing - someone guaranteed to make even a marginal QB look good.

But UofL fans are high on the coming season. Petrino's 2nd years at implementing his offenses has historically been just short of remarkable. Louisville recruiting has gained from association with the ACC in a large way, although the 3 first rounders taken out of our players last year testify to some competent, if not outstanding recruiting in spite of the location. By the way, Louisville produces good athletes - Paul Hornung, Lenny Lyles, Mike Bush, Brian and Greg Brohm, Joe Jacoby all played high school ball in Louisville. It's not Miami, by any stretch, but it can supply the odd 4 and 5 star recruit. Some years, more than one. It tends to swallow up local players who favor the Cards, being the big sports draw in town with no pro teams muddying the media - (outside of U of K basketball, of course - our Gamechickens.)

The development of the QB;s is everything, in the end. UofL returns virtually everyone save Mauldin off the defensive front 7, with some good-looking depth on the line and linebacking. Transfers include an interesting DE who was freshman of the year, I believe, at TCU and a transfer from Georgia who is a 6'5" safety. Retunrners in the D backfield did indeed play during last season and should provide adequate help considering the strengths of the line and backer corps.

Offensively, we lost most of our maligned offensive line - which ironically could be a step up. We'll feature the same backs - Radcliffe and Scott - who surprised everyone and who essentially beat out Dyer and Dominic Brown for playing time.

Anyway, I would say don;t cry for Louisville. Incidentally, saying it is becoming a football tiown is not an exaggeration. Every seat in 55,000 capacity Papa John's (the Oven, lol) was sold out every game last season. Expansion plans are underway in their final proposals to get to 80,000. Louisville's story is one of development in general, guided by an incredible AD - Tom Jurich. He basically lit a fire under all sports. Currently, Louisville is the only school in the nation with Top 25 teams in the 3 major sports - football, #18, basletball #8 and baseball which you guys can go watch this weekend - #3. Don't cry for Louisville, lol.

By the way, since I already over-wrote here - the praise for Clemson fans was off the charts from our visiting fans last season. Clemson has become quite a favorite for us all. You deserve it, too.

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Louisville is losing a ton of talent

Re: Louisville is losing a ton of talent

Parker is elite. Holliman was an elite college player.***

I'm still trying to figure out how we won that game***

D***

Re: I'm still trying to figure out how we won that game***

better coached team***

If our offense was playing the way it was towards the end